SAN MARCOS, Texas - Officially starting the season, the McNeese Cowgirls soccer team travels to take on the Texas State Bobcats at the Bobcat Soccer Complex Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. The match is scheduled to be streamed on ESPN+ with live stats available.

"I think both the games we played prepped us for what's coming, and I think Texas State will be a very good team," said head coach Drew Fitzgerald. "It'll be a great opponent for us and one more step to us getting better."

McNeese concluded both its tune-ups against UL-Lafayette and UL-Monroe while gaining valuable experience in the process. The Cowgirls scored one goal against UL-Lafayette early with Alexi Pitt, a redshirt freshman, putting the ball in the net in the 17th minute of play.

Texas State dropped both exhibitions it played against ninth-ranked TCU and Texas A&M in 5-0 and 4-0 shutouts. Head coach Steve Holeman enters his second season at the helm after guiding the team to a 12-5-2 record in the 2022 campaign.

Series Record
- McNeese has defeated the Bobcats in the last six matchups, the last coming in 2019 in a 1-0 road victory.
- Texas State holds the all-time series record at 17-11-1.
- McNeese has averaged 1.07 goals against the Bobcats.

McNeese Notes
- The team consists of 18 returners with 12 newcomers consisting of two transfers and 10 freshmen.
- McNeese soccer comes off a 5-9-4 season where they faced tough competition like Texas A&M and South Alabama.
- Three members of the team earned All-Southland second team honors. The honorees included:
    - Senior Kiana Kukaua
    - Senior Rachel Young
    - Senior Magalie Depot
- The Cowgirls are predicted to finish seventh in the Preseason SLC poll.
- Fitzgerald has coached his programs to four winning seasons at the helm, tied for the most by a single coach for the Cowgirls.
- All three of the top scorers for the team return with Depot (4G, 4A), Young (5G, 2A), and sophomore Salma Elhaimer (4G, 2A).
- McNeese is slated to host Texas Southern, South Alabama, Southern, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Lamar, Northwestern State, Southeastern, and Texas A&M-Commerce.
- Jackie Kelly enters the season with 93 career saves, the 10th-most in program history.
- Kiana Kukaua is just seven assists shy of tying the program's record.
- Depot and junior Morgan Schooley are five penalty kicks away from the program record.

Texas State Notes
- Faced Texas A&M and ninth-ranked TCU in exhibition matches, both on the road.
- Holeman helped the team to a 12-5-2 record in 2022 and has been a head coach throughout 27 years for numerous programs.
- Texas State is losing nine letter winners while bringing 17 back and adding 13 additional players.
- Four of the team's starters lost were defenders.